Neocons, the congressional war party, and the military – industrial complex will no doubt be ready to criticize President Trump’s national security strategy as a retreat from America’s role in the world – but nothing could be further from the truth.

Baldwin was popular when he left office, largely because he had proclaimed peace, but he had helped set the table for the inevitable conflict to be inherited by his successors, Neville Chamberlain and Winston Churchill. Obama likewise ignored rumbling volcanoes, and now they are erupting on his successor’s watch. In both cases, history was kind while Baldwin and Obama were in office — but not so after they left.